Chances of finding survivors are slim, but rescue efforts continue, despite being slowed by additional minor landslides and altitude sickness, as the mining site is located at 4600 meters (15,000 feet).

"The miners' survival chances were slim due to the scale of the landslide," a rescue worker said.

Temperatures fell to -3 degrees Celsius (26 degrees Fahrenheit) have gotten in the way of sniffer dogs' sense of smell and their ability to trace the buried miners.

Around 2000 police officers, firefighters and doctors have been dispatched to the site of the landslide, staying at a temporary residence a safe distance away. About 200 bulldozers are being used to shift rock, with more than 300,000 cubic meters of debris already moved by midday on Saturday.

The incident occurred Friday at around 6 a.m. local time, just east of the regional capital, Lhasa. The landslide was three kilometers long and had a volume of about two million cubic meters of mud, rock and other debris.

Victims of the landslide were mostly ethnic Han Chinese, but also included two Tibetans.